By SNV Sudhir
Visakhapatnam, April 8, 2013: Cadres of Telugu Desam, which turned a divided house in the
district, seems to be banking on their chief N Chandrababu Naidu’s pada yatra,
which is scheduled to enter Vizag on April 12, to revive the fortunes of the
party in the region.
The three districts of north Andhra Pradesh was once
considered as strong bastion of the Telugu Desam, ever since the creation of
the party by N T Rama Rao.
But if the recent spate of incidents are anything to go by,
the party seems to be losing its hold in this region.
Naidu also chose Vizag to conclude his 208 day and 2,900 km
long historic walkathon Vasthunna Meekosam, which he launched on October 2,
last year at Hindupur in Anantapur. In Vizag he will take part in the pada
yatra for 12 days barring two Sundays and will conclude it on April 27 at
Gajuwaka.
Naidu is expected to walk 120 kms in his 12 day tour in
Vizag. As a mark of conclusion of his walkathon, Naidu would unveil a pylon of
100 ft in Gajuwaka on April 27. Later he will address a public meeting in city,
for which venue is being finalised. TD leaders are planning to hold the public
meeting either in AU engineering college grounds or Indirapriyadarshini Grounds
in Old Town
TD leaders here have designed pada yatra in such a manner
that Naidu would walk only in rural tracts avoiding urban constituencies and
areas. Their strategy is that party urban workers and activists would
concentrate more on making the public meeting a grand success by gathering more
supporters to revive party fortunes.
TD almost swept the polls in the three districts during the
1983 to 1999 polls, but the party started seeing a downward trend in the 2004
polls. In the 2009 elections, it had won a meager 7 Assembly segments of the
total 34 Assembly constituencies spread across the three districts. While there
are around 15 Assembly segments in Vizag, TD could win only 4, out of
9 in Vizanagaram, the party bagged only 2 and it could win only one
constituency out of 10 in Srikakulam.
In the same district, the lone MLA from Ichapuram Sai Raj
shifted his loyalties to the new regional force, YSRC this year, reducing
the party tally to zero.
In Vizag, though the party has only 4 MLAs, leaders and
activists are divided into too many factions both in rural and urban units. The
party is now divided into two groups in the district. A group loyal to party
politburo member Ayyana Patrudu and another owing allegiance to his arch rival,
party state vice president Bandaru Satyanarayana Murthy.
“We want to make the concluding programme of our chief’s
historic pada yatra, in the city a grand success. We are fortunate that he
chose Vizag to conclude his marathon walkathon and we are seeing this as an opportunity,
chance to boost the morale of the cadre. He will address the public across the
state from Vizag on April 27. It’s going to be an historic moment for all of
us,” TD urban president, Vasupalli Ganesh Kumar.
Naidu is also expected to celebrate his birthday with party
cadres in Yelamanchali on April 20.
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